Thinking about switching to DirecTV

[Sonnie Parker]

We were with DTV for years, then switched to Dish when they got our locals and DTV did not offer them. DTV finally got locals in our market (negotiated the last network this past May) and we are no longer under contract with Dish. So we are thinking about changing and I want to make sure my justification is sufficient.

With Dish we currently serve four rooms with two 722 receivers and one 612 receiver with AT200 and pay about $120 per month.

We seem to consistently have issues with these receivers... we have swapped out two 722's and three 612's in the last couple of years. Plus they have had issues with keeping the locals negotiated, we have been without a time or two, granted it was a short time... then AMC for a while. We just have not been particularly satisfied.

If we switch to DTV we would go with the Genie and three C31 minis with the Premier package and only pay about $75 for the first three months and then it jumps to about what we are paying now with Dish for the rest of the year. After that, it jumps up to about $140 per month for the second year.

For two years, comparing the two and considering we get $100 off for a referral and paying the shipping on sending the Dish receivers back... then buying an AM21 ATSC tuner for our main room... it all comes out to about the same cost. However, we do get the Premium channels with DTV, although we don't care much for them, other than I get to watch a few boxing matches. We could actually save if we just went with basically the same channels we have now and not worry with the Premium channels. We would get them for three months, but over the full two years we could save quite a bit. I recently learned Costco is offering the $200 cash card, so that would make switching a little more enticing.

I want to make sure we are not missing anything. I think the channels are pretty much the same and it appears we will get everything we like in HD. I like that ESPNU is HD. And as stated above, we'll get a little more for at least three months.

Is there anything that we are going to lose from Dish if we swap?

Are there any particular functions with the receivers that are drastically different?


Thanks!

 

[reybie]

Just recently switched from dish. Came from a single 622 to a genie and 2 c31 clients. Bill is almost the same spread out in 24 months. Just received the costco card also in approximately 3 weeks after install. The only real difference is the way the dvr works, dish's setup is a little bit more friendly I think but that's just me. I miss being able to connect to my dvr and check the recorded shows and tinker with the dvr.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I am not sure I follow... you are not able to connect to the DVR? From your phone or computer?

I read where the program guide on DTV is only 1.5 hours. I really like the fact Dish is 3 hours, but I figure there may be a few trade offs.

 

[reybie]

You can schedule shows via the computer or smartphone app with directv but I have not seen the same control I had with the dish dvrs where you can see what's recorded, start new recordings etc.

Yes, the guide is kind of "short". I got over it though but deep down I still wish I can see more. There are other differences but I can't remember ribht now, it's late and the beer is not helping either. Haha

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yep... my eyes have been heavy for a while now. Thanks for the info.

 

[Jimbo]

Guys, you want to see more guide .... simple, push the Right Arrow, you go out as far as you want up to 14 days once populated.
The Red and Green buttons push the guide out 12 hours at a time.

 

[rapidturtle]

I just switched from Dish a few months ago. I had a 722 and two 211's. I had no beef with Dish, other than them dropping channels. With D* I have the HR34, and 3 H25's. I have been very happy with the switch. After getting used to things with the receivers, I have to say that I don't miss the Dish DVR's at all. The D* DVr's are easy to use, and do everything I want it to do. My wife even finds D* easier to use.

If you do a lot of recording, and have kids, you might want to look into the H25's instead of the C31's. The H25's don't use a tuner from the main box, where the C31's take one up when in use. The only drawback tothe H25's is that you can't pause live T.V. The work around is to just hit the record button, and then pull the show up on your DVR list and watch it that way. Then you can pause to your hearts content. I prefer this setup in my home, sometimes all 4 boxes are going, and that would cause DVR conflicts if I had the C31's.

 

[dfergie]

Jimbo, he is talking about more channels viewed in the guide at a time and a longer time frame per view... the Dish guide is better for a quick glance and better overview, but the DIRECTV guide gives way more program info and goes further into the future...

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Thanks for the extra input.

If you do a lot of recording, and have kids, you might want to look into the H25's instead of the C31's. The H25's don't use a tuner from the main box, where the C31's take one up when in use. The only drawback tothe H25's is that you can't pause live T.V. The work around is to just hit the record button, and then pull the show up on your DVR list and watch it that way. Then you can pause to your hearts content. I prefer this setup in my home, sometimes all 4 boxes are going, and that would cause DVR conflicts if I had the C31's.

It is just the wife and I... and at most we may record 2 programs at once on one or two nights a week for an hour to two, but it is rare because we don't record too terribly much... maybe 7-8 shows a week. I would not anticipate any issues there and I like the idea of the C31 unit size.

Jimbo, he is talking about more channels viewed in the guide at a time and a longer time frame per view.

That is correct... and I am not sure it will be that much of a big deal. I am use to having to reset all my recordings at the beginning of each season due to having to swap out so many receivers. I will setup a favorites list with all the channels we record from regularly and scroll up and down through those. I can see from 7:30 to 10:30 on the Dish guide. So I can scroll up just bit and see if I have shows to record, then hit Skip to go to the same time frame the next evening and check that night. At the beginning of each season I may have to do this 3 or 4 times because of the varying starting dates of shows that may not show up for a few weeks. Hopefully... if we get a good functioning Genie... we won't have to worry about this but the first year of setting up programming. About the time we would get through a year of setting up a receiver with Dish, a receiver would go out and we would have to start over again.